Contents

Abstract

KGLEngine2d is a recent try to develop a 2D games engine using openGL, and powerful enough to deliver complex and beautiful games.
As of now, version 1.0 is not even out, but the API is stable enough for anyone to start playing with the engine.
Through this tutorial I will explain how to use a great part of the engine, included but not limited to : sprites creation, rotation and deplacement and collision detection.

We will develop a simple pong game through this example. anyone who have followed the KGLEngine2d developement a bit will have seen some kglPong screenshot, as this is the way new features are shown, using this simple game to showcase them. So this will also be the way to introduce new developpers to the technology :)

Here is a screenshot of what this tutorial leads to :

Starting Point : the main.cpp

Every application need one, so let's start with it, as it really is simple.

return app.exec();;
}
So, what are we doing ?
Initializing the KApplication, and creating an instance of our main class, the one that surclasses KGLEngine2d. Then we tell him to show himself, and that's all. I told you there was nothing exciting in here :)

The KGLEngine2d pong engine

Now, as we want a bit of sophisticated features, we will have to surclass the KGLEngine2d.

Namely, those sophisticated actions, that forces us to surclass are the keyboard interactions. As of now, those are managed in the engine's mainLoop, and there are no alternatives to use them otherwise.
Everything else could have been done in the main, or anywhere else, using a simple slot and the engine power, but I will use the Object-Oriented conception int this tutorial.

So, what happens there ?
First, we set the coordinates system. We tell the engine to show us a region of 640pixels of width, and 480 of height. This only affects the rendered view, not the window size.
Then we create and add items to the engine, no more.
The KGLItem constructor need no arguments, but can be given two : the item type, used for collision detection, and the dimensionts of the item.
Here, we dim the items according to what we want them to do : The walls are as large as usefull, but dim, and the goals are as tall as needed to cover the whole area, but dim.
The first two items are there so the ball will bounce when it reaches the top or bottom of the screen.
The third and fourth ones are the goals, so we can detect when the ball's gone past a player's racket. The goals are set to be black, this should not be done this way, they should be given an image instead, but, hey, this is a code example and i wanted to show you how to draw a simple colored rectangle.

Now we create the player's rackets and the ball. These are special classes that will be explained a bit later.
They might have been simple KGLSprites, and the collisions would have been managed in another function connected to the KGLItem::colliding(PhysicsItem*) function. But, again, let's take the Object Oriented way.
We also connect the ball's enterGoal signal with the score slot, so when the ball enters a goal, the engine will be told, and will update the score.

First, we tell the engine to call the move() function of each and every item of type RACKET_TYPE and BALL_TYPE, at each call of the mainLoop.
This way, we only will have to set these item's speed for them to move.

By default, an item can not collide with other items, so we need to define the collision rules in order to use the physics engine.
Then, we add collision detection rules. We say that an item of type BALL_TYPE can only collide with items of type RACKET_TYPE, WALL_TYPE, and GOAL_TYPE (which, in this case, is pretty much everything).

We just define KGLItems with nothing really special, but when we will change the ball and rackets from simple white squares to sprites, this will prove to be usefull.
Now let's look at the constructors:

Ball::Ball()

KGLItem(BALL_TYPE, RECT(0, 0, 10, 10))

{
}

Racket::Racket()

KGLItem(RACKET_TYPE, RECT(0, 0, 10, 30))

{
}

So we just define the width and height of the item,as we don't need anything more, yet.

We iterate on the colliding items, and depending on their type, we act. If we are colliding with a wall, we invert our vertical speed. If we are colliding with a racket, we invert our horizontal speed. If we are colliding a goal, then let the engine know it.